John Vassos is best known for both his art deco illustrated books and iconic turnstile for the Perey company, as well as modern radios, broadcast equipment, and televisions for RCA.
29 Facts About John Vassos
2.
John Vassos was a founder of the Industrial Designers Society of America, in 1965, serving as its first chairman simultaneously with Henry Dreyfuss as its president.
3.
John Vassos was born in Sulina, Romania to Greek parents, and his family moved when he was young to Istanbul, Turkey.
4.
John Vassos became a deck hand with the Allies during world War I, and survived the torpedoing of a Belgian ship where he was serving.
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John Vassos moved to Boston, Massachusetts in 1919, where he attended the Fenway Art School at night.
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John Vassos studied alongside American artist John Singer Sargent and worked as an assistant for Joseph Urban.
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John Vassos opened his own studio creating window displays for department stores, like Wanamakers, murals, and advertisements for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, and Packard Motor Cars in his unique black and white illustrated style.
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John Vassos had recently acquired Victor Phonograph, built Radio City, and owned NBC Broadcasting, but needed to amplify and modernize their radio manufacturing business.
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John Vassos eschewed trendy styles like the extreme-streamlined look, popular in the 1930s, and favored the clean, modern look unadorned with unnecessary elements.
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John Vassos expressed his design philosophy for magazines like Pencil Points and in lectures on modern design and art.
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John Vassos's contributions include creating a futuristic living room including television, the slide rule dial on radios, emphasis on the haptic experience of media, and the "user experience," years before this term was coined.
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John Vassos gained acclaim as an illustrator prior to his rise as an industrial designer.
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In 1924, John Vassos created his first industrial design product, a lotion bottle popular as a hip flask during Prohibition.
14.
John Vassos designed numerous radios, phonograph players, the Constellation jukebox for the Mills Company, and total environments for movie theaters, international expositions, and restaurants.
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John Vassos considered RCA, NBC, United Artists, Waterman Pens, Coca-Cola, Wallace Silver, Nedick's, Mills Industries, and the United States Government among its scores of national clients.
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John Vassos designed the cabinets of the RCA Corporation's first commercially available television sets.
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In 1941, John Vassos designed the RCA 621TS television set, which was slated to be sold the following year as a 1942 model.
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John Vassos's papers are collected at Syracuse University and at the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC.
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John Vassos was a founder of the industrial design profession in the United States and strived for excellence in the field.
20.
John Vassos became the president of the American Designers' Institute in 1938 - 1941 leading and growing the organization, adding members like Kem Weber, Eva Zeisel, Walter von Nessen, Alfons Bach, and Belle Kogan.
21.
John Vassos was instrumental in the formation of the Industrial Designer's Society of America, a merger between the Industrial Designers Institute and the Society of Industrial Designers, and was its first chairman of the board with Henry Dreyfuss as its first President.
22.
John Vassos insisted that designers should be concerned with the legal status of their profession, and helped establish educational and licensing requirements.
23.
John Vassos enlisted into the United States Army when World War II began and went to war as captain in the Engineering Corps in charge of camouflage for the 3rd Air Force Headquarters.
24.
John Vassos was identified as a prime asset for America's newly created intelligence service founded by William J Donovan: the Office of Strategic Services.
25.
Major John Vassos was the Commanding Officer of the 'Spy School' for the duration of the war.
26.
John Vassos lived in Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side of New York City with his wife, Ruth John Vassos, and settled in the Silvermine neighborhood in Norwalk, Connecticut in the 1930s.
27.
John Vassos was an influential leader of the Silvermine Guild and an avid hunter.
28.
John Vassos's offices were in Camden, New Jersey, Manhattan and at his home.
29.
John Vassos designed groundbreaking products of 20th-century America, particularly for media technologies.